Brad wrote:
Both pipes should be at the same electric potential (ground) since
they are both are buried.

Wrong, wrong...

Someone already mentioned the words "cathodic protection" with respect
to gas pipes.

What that means is that the gas company has connected a low voltage
source between a metal anode buried in the earth and the gas main and
the pipes leading off it to each user. The purpose is to make the pipes
slightly more electrically negative than ground so that they don't get
eaten away by galvanic corrosion.

The same sort of active protection is sometimes used at boat marinas and
on buried metal structures like guy wire anchors. The systems are also
known by the names "active cathodic protection" or "impressed current
protection".

There's a dielectric (insulated) coupling somewhere near the gas meter
to insulate the gas pipe in your house from the buried main and feeder
so that you don't "short out" that deliberately applied protection
voltage, because the gas pipe in your home probably gets electrically
grounded through some gas appliance it's connected to.

The use of plastic buried gas piping has eliiminated the need for those
kinds of corrosion protection systems on new work.


The grounding is done to help ensure the electrical panel has a true
ground.
In some cases the panel ground is wired to a long steel pole driven
into the earth. Just different ways to do the same thing.
Brad

blueman wrote:

When we had our electric service upgraded, the electrician (as
expected) ran a ground wire from the cold water main inlet to the
ground on the panel.

I read somewhere that one should also run a similar grounding wire to
the natural gas pipe inlet but the electrician didn't do that.
- Is it required by code?
- Is it recommended?
- Should one use the same gauge wire as for the water pipe?
- Any special considerations?
- Can I daisy chain it from the water pipe or do I need to run a
separate ground back to the panel?

Thanks




--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."